Apple’s Taiwan Suppliers See Sales Falter Again on Slow Demand

(Bloomberg) — Revenue among Taiwan’s major Apple Inc. suppliers fell for a fourth straight month in May, as high living costs keep a lid on consumer discretionary spending.

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The group of device assemblers like Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. and components makers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported overall sales of NT$944.10 billion ($30.5 billion) in May, 7.8% lower than a year ago and worse than April’s 2.1% drop, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Before announcing its long-awaited Vision Pro headset alongside upgraded Macs this month, Apple weathered a tough first quarter where sales of its hardware either slumped or stagnated. A small gain in iPhone revenue was greeted as a positive surprise by the market, which expected an even worse slump.

The Mac division was especially hard hit by the wider slowdown in demand for personal computers, falling 31% in the first quarter. Leading PC makers Lenovo Group Ltd. and Asustek Computer Inc. have in recent weeks said they don’t expect demand to regain growth momentum until next year.

In the smartphone market, Apple is showing greater resilience than rivals, many of which have recorded double-digit declines in shipments as unsold inventory is being cleared through. That’s affecting demand for the services of Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, and TSMC, as they supply the wider consumer electronics ecosystem.

Hsinchu-based TSMC said this month that it’s going through an inventory adjustment period, but it’s starting to see recovery in some markets. It reaffirmed projections for revenue in the first half of 2023 to decline by about 10% in US dollar terms.